Since the mid-1990s – a time when Colour Sound Experiment first had touring clients and freelancers working across the US – the rental outfit has been open about a desire to expand internationally. With no outside investors to answer to, the latest milestone in the company’s rapid expansion is Jeddah.
The journey from fledgling rental house to major name on the global stage has been marked by pivotal decisions and bold investments. One of the earliest watershed moments came in 1990, with the company’s first move into intelligent lighting. This was followed by the addition of LED screens in 2009. Over the past five years, Colour Sound Experiment has taken significant strides internationally, with the development of specialised departments helping to deliver consistency and quality across borders – with Saudi high on the list of priorities.
“We started looking into it around 1996 but couldn’t really afford to do it, so the dream remained dormant until COVID-19 provided a 14-month-long break,” Colour Sound Experiment Managing Director, Haydn Cruickshank said, reflecting on the company’s growth in the Middle East. “Although unwanted, the grounding of live events provided an opportunity to think about business strategy and opportunities properly.”
Colour Sound Experiment soon pitched for involvement in Soundstorm in Riyadh. “We did a lot of reading up about what was going on in Saudi and the objectives of the festival, and we won lighting and video supply for four of the seven stages,” he recalled.
Having landed the gig, in Cruickshank’s words, the team “took a punt” – opening a subsidiary, establishing a warehouse in Jeddah, and shipping 18 containers of technical equipment overseas in a bid to secure further work in the region. “We chose Jeddah rather than Riyadh as it has a more relaxed vibe, a bit of an underground rave scene and is undergoing huge investment and development,” he said, explaining that what initially drew the company to location was Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. “Bringing culture in the form of music and sport to the region, as well as a cultural liberalisation, very much appeals to us and fits our ethos.”
As has been widely documented in the pages of TPiMEA, MDLBEAST – an entertainment company rooted in music culture, and the brainchild of Soundstorm and XP Music Futures – has played a significant role in Saudi Arabia’s cultural revolution in recent years. “They are responsible for many of the international music acts that perform in the country, and the events they create also promote respect and tolerance,” Cruickshank noted, having collaborated on several projects with MDLBEAST outside of the Soundstorm festival.
“From Saudi’s first nightclub to a purpose-built arena in Jeddah, through to shows in a haunted hospital and 28 back-to-back shows for the Qatar World Cup. They’re an exciting company to work with, as they are creatively driven and have a real vision of what they want to achieve,” he remarked.
As with any region, training and talent development are key to growth. MDLBEAST offers training initiatives and schemes spanning a broad range of skills in the live entertainment and events sector – programmes that are supported by Colour Sound Experiment staff. “We have our own in-house training, too, both locally and in the UK, to try and build and upskill our own in-house roadies,” the MD reported.
While Saudi still has virtually no domestic event labour force, that is slowly beginning to change, according to Cruickshank. “This is one of our key objectives,” he said, boldly. “Saudisation is very important to us. The objectives of the government, and wider royal support for the events and live entertainment sector in trying to build a sustainable, domestic industry, are mutually beneficial – so we’re really trying to support, employ and train Saudi talent. Around 40% of our workforce in Jeddah are Saudi nationals.”
Looking ahead, the Colour Sound team remains optimistic about what’s to come – though not without an awareness of current market pressures. “We’re very optimistic about the year ahead,” Cruickshank explained. “However, on the supply side, the current tariff and trade war certainly presents a challenge for all rental companies and most manufacturers. That said, we view this as short-term and relatively simple to mitigate.”
On the demand side, although where and how ticket revenue is spent continues to evolve – sometimes giving the impression of decline – the overall spend, the MD believes, is still growing. He elaborated: “People have been gathering to listen to music together for about 40,000 years; it isn’t going out of fashion any time soon.”
In closing, Cruickshank shared his ambition to contribute to the growth of live entertainment in Saudi Arabia and across the broader Middle Eastern market by building a domestic labour force of skilled events professionals and continuing to bring and enforce working practices borrowed from the UK and US.
“I’d love to see the Middle East integrate with the touring and festival circuits of Europe and the US,” he said, enthusiastically. “It would be great for the region and, due to the seasonality of events there, could fit into the calendars of touring acts well.”
Photo: Joe Okpako
